After 35 years without a singing lesson, <b>Mick Jagger</b> of the <b>Rolling Stones</b> has changed his tune. "Better late than never," Jagger, 63, told Virgin Radio as he readied for concerts in London on Aug. 20 and 22, Agence France-Presse reported. "I did a bit of voice coaching a couple of years ago, after 35 years with no voice coaching," he said. The coaching "really helps. I always tell these younger singers, 'I never used to do it either, but you should.'" He added: "I mean, you sing a lot. Every night you are singing for hours and hours, and your voice gets tired, like anything - like running every night. That's why you have to warm up properly. I just learned that, so that's probably helped me." (NYT)

The MTV Music Video Awards are about to get a dose of <b>Jack Black</b>, as the actor/rocker has been chosen to lead the annual anything-can-happen extravaganza, set for Aug. 31, MTV announced. "Prepare yourself for a rip snortin' humdinger," Black said. The awards are to be broadcast live from Radio City Music Hall in New York, and performers are to include <b>Beyoncé, Justin Timberlake, Panic! At the Disco</b> and <b>Ludacris</b>. (AP)

<b>Richard Hatch</b>, who won the $1 million prize on the debut season of the TV show "Survivor," says he will be tutoring his fellow prison inmates to earn their general equivalency diplomas and polish their job skills while his lawyer works on an appeal of his conviction for failure to pay taxes on his prize and other income, The Associated Press reported. In addition, Hatch, 45, plans to write a book about his experiences on "Survivor" and about his legal problems. But in a telephone interview he told The Dominion Post of Morgantown, West Virginia, about life in the minimum-security prison, where he arrived July 25 under a 51-month sentence: "I don't think I will adjust to any of this until I can prove I was unethically prosecuted." Hatch was convicted by a federal jury in January and sentenced in May by a judge who said he had repeatedly lied on the witness stand. (NYT)

<b>Daniel Craig</b>, the new James Bond, wants critics to give him a chance. The British actor says in an interview in Entertainment Weekly magazine: "They hate me. They don't think I'm right for the role. It's as simple as that. They're passionate about it, which I understand, but I do wish they'd reserve judgment." A group of James Bond fans have launched a Web site, www.craignotbond.com, to protest Craig replacing <b>Pierce Brosnan</b> in the 007 film franchise, and to boycott the upcoming "Casino Royale." Craig, 38, said he was uneasy about uttering the famous words, "The name is Bond, James Bond" while filming. "People kept asking, 'Have you done the line yet?'" Craig said. "But honestly, I didn't rehearse it at all. I didn't practice it in the mirror every morning or anything like that. I didn't want to even think about saying it because I didn't want it to be this weight around my neck. I just wanted to get on with it and not blow it." (AP)

<b>Prince Albert II</b> of Monaco was to be on hand Friday night when the Newport Jazz Festival opened with a concert that is part of an anniversary celebration of the 1956 film "High Society," which starred his mother, Grace Kelly, The Associated Press reported. Co-starring Frank Sinatra and Bing Crosby, the film, with Newport, Rhode Island, and its mansions as its backdrop, was the last Kelly made before her marriage to Prince Rainier III. The concert, a tribute to Sinatra, was to feature the guitarist and vocalist<b> John Pizzarelli</b>, who opened concerts for him in the early 1990s. (NYT)

Just months after being freed from nearly six years in prison, Iran's most prominent dissident, <b>Akbar Ganji</b>, found himself the guest of honor at a Hollywood party. A soft-spoken man who staged an 80-day hunger strike while jailed on charges of "collecting confidential information harmful to the nation and spreading propaganda against the Islamic system," Ganji appeared humble but unruffled at the home of <b>Mike Medavoy</b>, former head of Orion Pictures. Invited by Medavoy and the actor <b>Sean Penn</b> to Hollywood while visiting the United States, he debated foreign policy and was even asked which foods he missed most while on hunger strike. "After 10 or 15 days you stop feeling hungry," he said. His interpreter was not so relaxed. When the actor <b>Warren Beatty </b> jumped up to ask a question at the end of an hourlong speech by Ganji, she said, "Is that Warren Beatty? My God." (Reuters)